Written Answers Monday 3 August 2009

Scottish Executive

2014 Commonwealth Games

Nicol Stephen (Aberdeen South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of the work being undertaken at the swimming pool in Tollcross, Glasgow, in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and how it is being funded.

Nicola Sturgeon: The budget for the works at the National Swimming Centre at Tollcross is £13.66 million. This budget includes the cost of the temporary works necessary for the duration of the Games. All costs are being met from the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee’s budget.

Alcohol

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it has received in relation to the validity of its policy on minimum pricing of alcohol.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15628 on 9 September 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Alcohol

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the source was of the legal advice it received in support of the policy of minimum pricing of alcohol.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government does not disclose the source of any legal advice.

Alcohol

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of the legal advice it received on the policy of minimum pricing of alcohol.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government does not disclose the source of legal advice and therefore how any such advice was paid for.

Alcohol

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has estimated the cost of minimum pricing of alcohol to the Scotch Whisky industry.

Kenny MacAskill: A regulatory impact assessment will be published alongside any proposed legislation put before the Scottish Parliament. Representatives of the alcohol industry, including the whisky industry, will be consulted on the development of an impact assessment.

Alcohol

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken an economic impact assessment of its policy on minimum pricing of alcohol.

Kenny MacAskill: A regulatory impact assessment will be published alongside any proposed legislation put before the Scottish Parliament.

Employment

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to protect jobs in the Clydesdale parliamentary constituency.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Government remains focused on delivering our core purpose of increasing sustainable economic growth across Scotland, including Clydesdale.

  Through our Government Economic Strategy and our Programme for Economic Recovery, we are using all the levers at our disposal to lead Scotland out of this downturn and position our economy to take early advantage of the recovery.

  This includes the acceleration of nearly £293 million in capital expenditure into 2009-10, on top of £30 million in 2008-09, supporting around 6,350 jobs across Scotland. Many of these employment opportunities will be in central Scotland.

Equalities

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms are in place to measure the equality impact of public funding sponsorship for minority ethnic award ceremonies facilitated through private consultants.

Alex Neil: Such award ceremonies acknowledge and highlight the valuable contribution made in Scotland by ethnic minority communities and individuals whose efforts may otherwise go unrecognised. By acknowledging these contributions we are promoting race equality for all and promoting good relations within our communities.

  Contributions provided in support of awards ceremonies are one-off payments in support of the delivery of a single event to recognise the achievements of minority ethnic individuals and communities. As such there are no structured mechanisms to measure the equality impact of such contributions in place.

  However, the Scottish Government does receive feedback from attendees and organisers on the overall impact of these events.

Equalities

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to concerns raised by Black and Ethnic Minorities Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS) on the commercialisation of the race equality agenda through award schemes driven by private business ventures.

Alex Neil: The Scottish Government is committed to achieving race equality and works closely with partners such as BEMIS towards this goal.

  The Scottish Government’s focus in achieving race equality has always been, and will continue to be, on supporting the contribution of the voluntary sector and driving to achieve change in the public sector. The Scottish Government does not wish to see this agenda commercialised.

Equalities

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what post event monitoring exists for stakeholders, including itself, as to the effectiveness of minority ethnic award ceremonies, facilitated through private consultants, in overcoming barriers for diverse communities and in ensuring financial prudence over public money.

Alex Neil: Award ceremonies acknowledge and highlight the contribution made by ethnic minority communities and individuals whose efforts may otherwise go unrecognised. By acknowledging these contributions we are promoting race equality for all and promoting good relations within our communities.

  Contributions provided in support of awards ceremonies are one-off payments in support of the delivery of a single event to recognise the achievements of minority ethnic individuals and communities. As such there are no structured mechanisms to monitor the effectiveness of such contributions in place.

  However the Scottish Government does receive feedback from attendees and organisers on the overall impact of these events.

Health

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many surgical errors have occurred in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board and type of error.

Nicola Sturgeon: There is no comprehensive list of diagnoses available which can reliably identify all surgical errors. The table below shows the number of cases recorded in Scotland where a diagnosis of surgical error can be inferred using available information.

  Acute NHS hospital (non-obstetric, non-psychiatric) inpatient/day case discharges; number of hospital episodes1 with a diagnosis of surgical error2, years ending 31 March 2004 to 2008.

  

 NHS Board of Residence
 2004
 2005
 2006
 2007
 2008


 All areas
 1,050
 1,169
 1,100
 1,039
 1,156


 Ayrshire and Arran
 90
 88
 104
 81
 70


 Borders
 20
 19
 12
 25
 10


 Dumfries and Galloway
 83
 103
 71
 79
 83


 Fife 
 126
 142
 143
 123
 192


 Forth Valley 
 53
 39
 26
 49
 35


 Grampian
 86
 119
 119
 125
 104


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 213
 223
 194
 126
 192


 Highland 
 67
 75
 88
 79
 86


 Lanarkshire
 32
 69
 58
 48
 68


 Lothian
 235
 246
 228
 227
 254


 Tayside
 30
 25
 37
 51
 39


 Island boards3
 7
 15
 16
 22
 18


 Other4
 8
 6
 4
 4
 5



  Source: SMR01 acute hospital inpatient and day case discharges.

  Notes:

  1. May include multiple episodes for the same patient.

  2. Cases have been selected using the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision. (ICD10) codes:

  Y60.0 - Unintentional cut, puncture, perforation or haemorrhage during surgical operation.

  Y61.0 - Foreign body accidentally left in body during surgical operation.

  Y62.0 - Failure of sterile precautions during surgical operations.

  Y65.2 - Failure in suture or ligature during surgical operations.

  Y65.5 - Performance of inappropriate operation.

  T81.2 - Accidental puncture and laceration during procedure not elsewhere classified.

  T81.5 - Foreign body accidentally left in body cavity or operation wound following a procedure.

  Acute hospital discharge summaries can record up to six diagnoses for each episode, a main diagnosis and up to five additional or supplementary diagnoses. All six positions have been examined to produce the figures shown in the table.

  3. Comprises Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles NHS boards.

  4. Outwith Scotland and not known.

Health

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been admitted to hospital following surgical errors in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board and type of error.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not held centrally.

Health

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have had organs accidentally punctured or cut during surgery in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is shown in the table below.

  Acute hospital (non-obstetric, non-psychiatric) inpatient/day case discharges; number of patients1 with a diagnosis of unintentional cut, puncture, perforation or haemorrhage2 during surgical operations, years ending 31 March 2004 to 2008.

  

 NHS Board of Residence
 2004
 2005
 2006
 2007
 2008


 All areas
 625
 640
 602
 605
 634


 Ayrshire and Arran
 54
 49
 67
 53
 44


 Borders
 12
 10
 10
 15
 4


 Dumfries and Galloway
 44
 49
 42
 42
 38


 Fife 
 85
 90
 85
 80
 88


 Forth Valley 
 25
 18
 13
 23
 18


 Grampian
 59
 72
 71
 68
 64


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 107
 98
 82
 69
 94


 Highland 
 42
 45
 44
 49
 54


 Lanarkshire
 21
 35
 24
 26
 42


 Lothian
 143
 144
 129
 136
 151


 Tayside
 21
 19
 25
 31
 19


 Island boards3
 6
 9
 8
 10
 15


 Other4
 6
 2
 2
 3
 3



  Source: SMR01 acute hospital inpatient and day case discharges.

  Notes:

  1. Individual patients are only counted once within any given year. Patients may be counted more than once across years.

  2. Cases have been selected using the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision.

  (ICD10) codes:

  Y60.0 - Unintentional cut, puncture, perforation or haemorrhage during surgical operation.

  T81.2 - Accidental puncture and laceration during procedure not elsewhere classified.

  Acute hospital discharge summaries can record up to six diagnoses for each episode, a main diagnosis and up to five additional or supplementary diagnoses. All six positions have been examined to produce the figures shown in the table.

  3. Comprises Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles NHS boards.

  4. Outwith Scotland and not known.

Health

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have received wrongly matched blood during surgery in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not held centrally.

Health

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the NHS Lothian budget was spent on (a) mental health services, (b) prescription drugs and (c) antidepressants in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: The proportion of NHS Lothian’s budget that was spent on (a) mental health services, (b) prescription drugs and (c) antidepressants in each of the last five years is shown in the table below.

  

 Year
 Mental Health Services
 Prescription Drugs
 Anti-depressants


 2007-08
 11%
 17%
 1%


 2006-07
 12%
 17%
 1%


 2005-06
 12%
 17%
 1%


 2004-05
 10%
 17%
 1%


 2003-04
 10%
 17%
 1%

Health

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of its health budget is allocated to (a) health improvement initiatives, (b) health promotion and (c) public health in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11.

Nicola Sturgeon: The following table shows the proportion of the health budget allocated specifically for health improvement initiatives, health promotion and for public health within the health portfolio.

  However these only reflect new policy initiatives as much of the total spend on health improvement, health promotion and public health is through NHS boards who allocate significant funding from their baseline budgets to these areas.

  These figures are taken from the Budget (Scotland) Act 2009-10 and the Draft Budget (Scotland) Bill 2009-10. Although health improvement, health promotion and public health are not specific categories in the budget documents the figures include those items that are taken to directly relate to them.

  

 
2009-10 (£m)
2010-11
  Provisional (£m)


 Health Improvement Initiatives 
 78.3
 77.6


 Health Promotion 
 74.0
 80.5


 Public Health 
 78.6
 99.2


 Total
 230.9
 257.3


 Total Health Budget (including capital)
 11,030.5
 11,540.9


 Proportion of Health Budget allocated to:
 
 


 Health Improvement Initiatives
 0.7%
 0.7%


 Health Promotion
 0.7%
 0.7%


 Public Health
 0.7%
 0.8%


 Total
 2.1%
 2.2%



  Note: Drugs misuse funding of £33.4 million in 2009-10 (provisional figure of £32.8 million for 2010-11) is met from the Justice portfolio and is not included within the table.

Housing

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will issue guidance to local authorities on houses in multiple occupation.

Alex Neil: Guidance for licensing authorities on the current system of licensing of houses in multiple occupation was published in 2004. We do not expect to issue further guidance until the lead up to the implementation of Part 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, which will replace the current licensing system. We have had initial discussions with local authorities on the options for implementation, and will take this forward with them and other stakeholders in the autumn.

Housing

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the publication of the Inclusion Scotland report, Freedom of Information Research into Accessible Housing for Disabled People in Scotland , in June 2009, what guidelines are given to local authorities regarding the role of disabled people in setting the priorities of the local housing strategy.

Alex Neil: Guidance on local housing strategies, published jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA, highlights the statutory requirement under the 2001 Housing (Scotland) Act for local authorities to consult on their proposed local housing strategy. This guidance also reminds local authorities of their public sector equality duties on disability, race and gender, which require public authorities to involve, consult and engage with communities as widely as possible.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was, including staffing costs, of setting up the House Key online service.

Alex Neil: The House Key website was originally launched in May 2006 by the Elderly Accommodation Counsel, with the help of an £18,000 grant from the Scottish Government.

  A tendering exercise was conducted to bring the service onto the Scottish Government website and improve it to meet Scottish Government website standards. The indicative cost of using internal Scottish Government staff was estimated to be £14,000, considerably cheaper than the lowest external bid of £233,000, so internal staff were used, making use of capacity released by the ending of the Supporting People grant scheme.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many enquiries there have been to the online House Key service by people seeking housing support.

Alex Neil: Since December 2008 there have been 4,535 visits to the House Key website.

Legislation

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how long a provision in primary legislation can he held in abeyance before coming into force once passed by the Scottish Parliament.

Bruce Crawford: There is no set period of time.

Malnutrition

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-23208 by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 May 2009, whether it has information on the number of (a) children and (b) adults that were admitted to hospital as a result of malnutrition in 2008-09, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: Centrally held information provides details for patients where malnutrition is identified on their hospital records. The definition of malnutrition employed in this analysis includes diagnoses of anorexia nervosa, nutritional deficiencies (e.g. vitamin A, thiamine and calcium deficiencies), nutritional anaemias and malnutrition related diabetes mellitus.

  Tables 1, 2 and 3 below show the number of patients discharged from acute hospitals in Scotland with a diagnosis of malnutrition, broken down by NHS board of residence, financial year and age group.

  Table 1: Number of Patients Where a Diagnosis of Malnutrition Was Recorded on a Hospital Admission, by NHS Board of Residence, Financial Years 2006-07 to 2008-09.

  

 Health Board
 2006-07
 2007-08
 2008-09


 Ayrshire and Arran
 117
 127
 121


 Borders
 55
 59
 62


 Dumfries and Galloway
 76
 122
 90


 Fife 
 130
 157
 118


 Forth valley
 47
 30
 49


 Grampian
 107
 120
 113


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 536
 434
 370


 Highland 
 134
 120
 130


 Lanarkshire
 198
 174
 165


 Lothian
 443
 444
 453


 Orkney Islands 
 6
 8
 15


 Shetland Islands 
 7
 8
 7


 Tayside
 78
 76
 83


 Western Isles
 12
 6
 5


 All Scotland
 1,946
 1,885
 1,781



  Table 2: Number of Patients Aged 16 Years and Over Where a Diagnosis of Malnutrition Was Recorded on a Hospital Admission, by NHS Board of Residence, Financial Years 2006-07 to 2008-09.

  

 Health Board
 2006-07
 2007-08
 2008-09


 Ayrshire and Arran
 114
 123
 118


 Borders
 55
 59
 62


 Dumfries and Galloway
 75
 120
 89


 Fife 
 129
 154
 116


 Forth valley
 46
 29
 49


 Grampian
 104
 115
 109


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 529
 425
 356


 Highland 
 131
 115
 123


 Lanarkshire
 190
 168
 158


 Lothian
 437
 430
 445


 Orkney Islands 
 6
 7
 15


 Shetland Islands 
 7
 8
 7


 Tayside
 73
 75
 81


 Western Isles
 12
 6
 5


 All Scotland
 1,908
 1,834
 1,733



  Table 3: Number of Patients Aged Up to 15 Years Where a Diagnosis of Malnutrition Was Recorded on a Hospital Admission, by NHS Board of Residence, Financial Years 2006-07 to 2008-09.

  

 Health Board
 2006-07
 2007-08
 2008-09


 Ayrshire and Arran
 3
 4
 3


 Borders
 -
 -
 -


 Dumfries and Galloway
 1
 2
 1


 Fife 
 1
 3
 2


 Forth valley
 1
 1
 -


 Grampian
 3
 5
 4


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 7
 9
 14


 Highland 
 3
 5
 7


 Lanarkshire
 8
 6
 7


 Lothian
 6
 14
 8


 Orkney Islands 
 -
 1
 -


 Shetland Islands 
 -
 -
 -


 Tayside
 5
 1
 2


 Western Isles
 -
 -
 -


 All Scotland
 38
 51
 48



  Source: Information Services Division Scotland.

  Notes:

  Figures for financial year 2008-09 are provisional.

  - Zero.

NHS Hospitals

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to issue guidelines to NHS boards in respect of ending charges for inpatient telephone use and, if so, when.

Nicola Sturgeon: There are no plans to issue guidelines to NHS boards in respect of ending charges for inpatient telephone use. NHS boards have, however, been reminded of the need to ensure that patients have access to public and portable payphones.

  I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-23012 on 7 May 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

  I further refer the member to the oral answer to question S3O-0615 on 30 April 2009 which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0430-02.htm#Col16979.

NHS Staff

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the decision by NHS Tayside to continue with the community health nurse pilot will result in additional funding being provided.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government remains fully committed to supporting pilot sites who wish to test the community health nurse role.

NHS Staff

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-23034 by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 May 2009, whether the contract to evaluate the community health nurse pilots has been awarded and what the estimated cost of the evaluation is.

Nicola Sturgeon: The contract to evaluate the community health nurse pilots has not yet been awarded and therefore the estimated cost has yet to be determined.

NHS Staff

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what disciplinary action has been taken against NHS staff for failing to comply with hand hygiene guidance, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) staff group.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21150 on 18 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

NHS Staff

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to improve the performance of doctors in complying with NHS hand hygiene guidance.

Nicola Sturgeon: It is for each NHS board to ensure the national zero tolerance approach to non compliance with local hand hygiene policies by healthcare staff is being adopted; and where staff fail to comply that appropriate action is taken in accordance with each NHS board’s employee conduct policy.

  The Scottish Government is funding a pilot project in NHS Tayside to determine how compliance could be improved more generally across the medical staff group.

NHS Waiting Times

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have waited more than (a) 6, (b) 12 and (c) 24 months for a hearing aid after an initial hearing test and diagnosis in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: This information is currently not available centrally, however information relating to audiology waiting times in NHS boards has been collected since April 2007 and Information Services Division is actively working with the boards to improve the consistency, completeness and timeliness of these data. A revised dataset was introduced in December 2008 and a pre-announcement of this data will take place in August 2009 in line with statistical publication standards. Publication of the relevant data will be in November 2009. Audiology waiting times are included within the 18-week referral to treatment standard by 2011.

Prison Service

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of prisoners at HMP Edinburgh was assessed as having a substance misuse problem in each of the last three years.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  Every prisoner admitted to HMP Edinburgh goes through an initial health screening by a nurse. Prisoners are asked about historical and current substance misuse to ascertain immediate clinical need. A doctor undertakes a face-to-face medical consultation which includes a physical, mental health and substance misuse assessment and appropriate clinical intervention within the first 24 hours in custody.

  Prisoners serving over 31 days in custody, identified with a substance misuse problem, are offered a comprehensive substance misuse assessment, details provided below:

  2006-07 - of the 508 referrals made, 82% undertook an assessment (421).

  2007-08 - of the 468 referrals made, 79% undertook an assessment (370).

  2008-09 - of the 589 referrals made, 79% undertook an assessment (468).

Prison Service

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of prisoners at HMP Edinburgh was assessed as having an alcohol problem in each of the last three years.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  Every prisoner admitted to HMP Edinburgh goes through an initial health screening by a nurse. Prisoners are asked about historical and current alcohol misuse to ascertain immediate clinical need. A doctor undertakes a face-to-face medical consultation which includes a physical, mental health and alcohol misuse assessment and appropriate clinical intervention within the first 24 hours in custody.

  Prisoners serving over 31 days in custody, identified with an alcohol misuse problem, are offered a comprehensive substance misuse assessment, details provided below:

  2006-07 - of the 508 substance misuse referrals made, 13% were assessed for further alcohol intervention (68).

  2007-08 - of the 468 substance misuse referrals made, 16% were assessed for further alcohol intervention (77).

  2008-09 - of the 589 substance misuse referrals made, 22% were assessed for further alcohol intervention (132).

Regeneration

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address the conclusion of the recent ODS Consulting research on tackling community regeneration that "community members have found it harder to influence decisions, with a feeling that the process [of community planning] is more high level and "top down" than in some previous programmes".

Alex Neil: The desk-based research conducted by ODS Consulting was commissioned to inform debate at a conference held in June to examine the long-term impact of national area based regeneration programmes.

  In keeping with previous approaches, such as Social Inclusion Partnerships and the Community Regeneration Fund, the Scottish Government continues to view the involvement of local communities in the Fairer Scotland Fund (FSF) as essential to the achievement of sustainable area regeneration.

  In order to increase the pace of change and enhance local autonomy after the end of the FSF ring-fence, Community Planning Partnerships are being asked to use their collective mainstream resources, engaging with communities themselves, to bring about the improvement required in our most deprived areas.

  The Scottish Government is committed to enabling and promoting community engagement. It is for each Community Planning Partnership to decide how it should engage with its communities. To help, the Scottish Government continues to promote the National Standards for Community Engagement, which have been endorsed by Audit Scotland as good practice, and it has invested in the development of the VOICE (Visioning Outcomes In Community Engagement) database tool which helps people use the standards to plan, monitor and evaluate their community engagement practice.

  We are also investing in a national programme to develop learning materials for community engagement practitioners to ensure that they have the skills they need to engage with communities.

Regeneration

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address the conclusion of the recent ODS Consulting research on tackling community regeneration that "equalities issues are understated in the Fairer Scotland Fund".

Alex Neil: The desk-based research conducted by ODS Consulting was commissioned to inform debate at a conference held in June to examine the long-term impact of national area based regeneration programmes.

  In our Fairer Scotland Fund (FSF) guidance, issued on 22 February 2008, Community Planning Partnerships were asked to provide information on their intentions to involve communities of place and interest, including key equalities groups, in developing their FSF linked plans. These plans are now embedded in the 32 single outcome agreements (SOAs) with each partnership.

  Decisions on the strategic deployment of the FSF rest with local authorities and their community planning partners who are required to work pro-actively to promote equality and eliminate discrimination in all their functions.

  The Scottish Government will continue to work with our partners in local government to ensure that issues of equality are a core consideration in taking forward SOAs and programmes of activity aimed at delivering outcomes linked to the FSF within them.

Schools

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools in the Lothians region ran supported study or homework classes after the timetabled school day in each of the last five years.

Fiona Hyslop: This information is not held centrally. Ultimately, it is for individual local authorities and schools to determine what to provide by way of out of school hours learning based on local needs and circumstances.

Scottish Funding Council

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason no additional funding has been provided to Telford College from the £7.7 million announced by the Scottish Funding Council on 9 July 2009.

Fiona Hyslop: Decisions on the funding of individual colleges are a matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I will ask the Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council to reply to the member.

Special Advisers

Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide the names of the special advisers currently in post; what their responsibilities are; what their pay bands are for 2009-10; how many special advisers are in each pay band, and what the total salary cost of employing special advisers was in 2008-09.

John Swinney: There are currently nine special adviser full-time appointments. The special advisers and their specific responsibilities are as follows:

  

 Name
 Specific Responsibilities


 Kevin Pringle
 Strategic coordination across all portfolios, political spokesperson and senior adviser on communications issues. 


 Stephen Noon
 Senior adviser on policy matters across all portfolios with emphasis on First Minister’s Questions, Finance, the Economy and the National Conversation.


 Noel Dolan
 Senior policy adviser to the Deputy First Minister on Health, Wellbeing, Housing and Sport policy and media issues.


 Geoff Aberdein
 Liaison with First Minister’s Private Office; Adviser on First Minister diary issues; lead on Homecoming and 2014.


 Stephen Gethins
 Support on policy and communications for Environment and Rural Affairs, Europe and External Relations, Energy and Climate Change.


 Colin McAllister
 Support on policy and communications for Education, Justice and Culture.


 John McFarlane
 Policy adviser; Parliamentary liaison working with Minister for Parliamentary Business and Parliamentary Liaison Officers.


 Will McLeish
 Political spokesperson, advice on communications issues and liaison with broadcasters.


 Stuart Nicolson
 Political spokesperson and advice on communications issues.



  The number of salaried special advisers in each pay band from 1 April 2009 is:

  

 Pay Band
 Pay Range
 Number of Salaried Special Advisers


 1
£39,445 - £52,904
 5


 2
£51,041 - £67,709
 1


 3
£65,017 - £83,963
 3


 3 (premium)
£83,549 - 100,942
 0


 4
£86,965 - 104,462
 0



  The total salary cost for the 11 salaried special advisers in post in 2008-09, including earnings related national insurance contributions and employer pension contributions, was £617,766.

Teachers

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have (a) applied for and (b) entered teacher training in each year since 1999.

Fiona Hyslop: The following table shows the information available on applications and intakes to Bachelor of Education (BEd) and Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) courses:

  

 
 Applications
 Intake


 Primary
 Secondary
 
 Primary
 Secondary
 


 BEd
 PGDE
 BEd
 PGDE
 Total
 BEd
 PGDE
 BEd
 PGDE
 Total


 1999-2000
 5,316
 1,996
 866
 2,870
 11,048
 636
 276
 172
 1,003
 2,087


 2000-01
 N/A
 3,589
 N/A
 3,019
 N/A
 708
 335
 175
 991
 2,209


 2001-02
 N/A
 4,321
 N/A
 3,733
 N/A
 745
 745
 201
 1,116
 2,807


 2002-03
 6,894
 3,554
 806
 3,328
 14,582
 773
 592
 175
 935
 2,475


 2003-04
 7,380
 2,066
 954
 3,312
 13,712
 755
 706
 175
 706
 2,618


 2004-05
 7,654
 3,601
 822
 3,587
 15,664
 768
 1,023
 183
 1,340
 3,314


 2005-06
 8,207
 4,019
 941
 4,659
 17,826
 780
 1,482
 191
 1,798
 4,251


 2006-07
 8,515
 4,778
 831
 5,511
 19,635
 786
 1,599
 186
 1,763
 4,334


 2007-08
 8,613
 5,046
 938
 4,562
 19,159
 780
 1,517
 180
 1,294
 3,771


 2008-09
 7,110
 4,386
 840
 3,934
 16,270
 925
 1,743
 174
 1,085
 3,927


 2009-10
 6,122
 4,017
 813
 3,907
 14,859
 N/A
 N/A
 N/A
 N/A
 N/A



  Notes:

  N/A - not available

  Application numbers may include duplicates where applications have been made to more than one University.

  2009-10 application numbers are "to date".

Teachers

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many teacher training places have been available in each year since 1999, broken down by institution.

Fiona Hyslop: Information on how many teacher training places have been available in each year since 1999, broken down by institution, can be obtained from the Scottish Funding Council website and can be accessed using the following hyperlinks:

  1999 - http://archive.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/shefc/1999/he1099/Annex_A.pdf.

  2000 - http://archive.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/shefc/2000/he0700/he0700a.pdf.

  2001 - http://archive.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/shefc/2001/he1501/he1501a.pdf.

  2002 - http://archive.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/shefc/2002/he1302/ite_annexa.pdf.

  2003 - http://archive.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/shefc/2003/he2503/he2503_table1.pdf.

  2004 - http://archive.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/shefc/2004/he0304/annex3.pdf.

  2005 - http://archive.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_circulars/shefc/2005/he0405/annex3.pdf.

  2006 - http://www.sfc.ac.uk/news_events_circulars/Circulars/2006/SFC0606.aspx.

  2007 - http://www.sfc.ac.uk/news_events_circulars/Circulars/2007/SFC4407.aspx.

  2008 - http://www.sfc.ac.uk/news_events_circulars/Circulars/2008/SFC0808.aspx.

  2009 - http://www.sfc.ac.uk/news_events_circulars/Circulars/2009/SFC1809.aspx.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Finance

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much it has spent on parliamentary social events in the last two financial years and from which budget.

Tricia Marwick (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body spent £439,562 on corporate events in 2007-08. The Corporate Events budget includes provision for events such as Business in the Parliament, Europe Day and the Festival of Politics. The 2007-08 budget also included the direct costs of the Session Three event, which was £186,191. Corporate events in 2008-09 cost £168,896 (this figure is provisional and still subject to approval by the auditors).

Finance

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the estimated cost is of the 2009 Festival of Politics.

Tricia Marwick (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): The estimated direct cost to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body for the 2009 Festival of Politics, once estimated income from ticket sales and sponsorship has been taken into account is between £45,000 and £50,000. Once approved by auditors, the total direct costs to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will be published.

Finance

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost was of the Festival of Politics in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008.

Tricia Marwick (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): Direct cost to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, once income from ticket sales and sponsorship has been taken into account, for the Festival of Politics in 2007 was £20,335. The 2007 Festival of Politics was undertaken in an abridged format to take account of the 2007 Scottish general election. For the Festival of Politics in 2008 the direct cost to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body was £45,754. The 2008 figure is provisional and still subject to approval by auditors.